Hi, I'm a new player and I'm actually quite excited to learn things for myself. However I'm surprised by the lack of posts in this thread for a game built around skill based pvp and rpg mechanics. In the spirit of community engagement, can anyone give me a 101 on the actual armor/weapon combos, cookie cutter builds, and basic gameplay technique that turns from scrub to greenhorn?

I realize that this game can, does and will change significantly over time but some sort of overview of core mechanics and a light exploration of how to use them to your advantage by yourself or in a group could be talked about, discussed and argued even now. Take the combination of friendly fire and large scale PvP. Surely there have got to be some comments on the viability of ranged and aoe, basic positioning of melee, etc that can ring true now and for a long time from now.

imho the biggest reason people aren't busy writing builds atm is that not all gear and skills are released yet, and an optimal loadout also depends quite heavily on the number of players you're running with. Once all the gear is there and (hopefully) more skills will be added, this should change quickly though.

If you want my personal experience though: For solo PvE Leather/Spear is the best you can get atm. Piercing Thrust, Forceful Throw together with Zephyr and Drain Life are solid combos, you'll be able to sustain yourself 24/7 if you do it right. Add Freedom/Sprint, Sneak Attack and Preperation and you'll be ready for PvP as well. Alternative to this for PvP DD is Leather/Bow, pretty much same leather spells but Snipe/Crescendo/Puncture for damage skills together with Interrupting Shot.

For support there are multiple options, hopefully Jarmo will see this thread to post his experience, but afaik Staff/Splint is a more defensive/disruptive supporter build that can sustain a shitton of dmg while dishing out amazing heals, and Totem-based supporters(with Leather or Splint) are more aggressive supporters, but as they have more projectile-based healing are quite harder to hit.

There are a ton of disruptive builds, I think Robe/Staff is the biggest one. Can screw with an enemy group extremely well, but also dies extremely fast if you're not careful.I don't have a lot of experience with tanky builds, but I'd say something like Splint/Spear should have a ton of defensive potential in group fights.

Mechanically the game is pretty straight forward and just takes a lot of practice.

Most important part is hitting the right targets, for that you need to understand the priority system. I don't know 100% how it works, but I know that if there is roughly the same distance between two targets, targets that are not in clan will be preferred for damage skills, and vice versa for healing skills.

Cancelling skills (standard RMB) and targetint yourself(holding shift) are both very important; saves energy and enables you to not go crazy with the mouse just to heal yourself .Also because projectiles actually have a travel distance, keep in mind that you need to overshoot to hit your target sometimes.

Also very important is learning all the visual cues for different buffs/debuffs, such as Tumble and Stasis. Both times you generally don't want to attack the target. However, Tumble can be used to help friendlies escape(https://fat.gfycat.com/ImprobableSadArcticwolf.webm), and sometimes you want to attack an ally in Stasis to get him out of an unfavourable position.

Engio wrote:Thank you for explaining the basics. I gather the strategy in gameplay evolves from the team aspect of it? That coordination with your friends often matters more than marginal increases in gear?

There are multiple things that influence general strategies/tactics: Playernumbers (1v1 and 5v5 are completely different to 10v10. Because of friendly fire, there simply is no "just AoE them all down" in this game), objective (a siege is different to a caravan raid), and overall skill level.

To be completely honest, gear doesn't even feel all that important right now. Good team coordination and build synergy is priority number one. Then follows skill level of all the players, then level (upgraded abilities to maximum) and gear. Only in otherwise even fights gear really makes a difference.